JoshC.
Strata Poster
My recent America trip was, amongst many other things, meant to be where I hit 300 creds, quite easily too. As explained in my Trip Report though, that wasn't meant to be, with me ending up on a palindromic, but otherwise unsatisfying, 282 creds instead.
Fortunately, I have enough other trips planned / in the works that I should still hit the next hundred milestone this year. These trips are scattered and not particularly big, so I figured I may as well create a thread to house my trip reports for the rest of the year.
The post-America Road to 300 started 4 days after I had landed back. I had just moved to Portsmouth, and there were a couple of little piers with creds within a (long, but scenic) walk. So I mopped up the creds at Clarence Pier (Mad Mouse, an SBF Zyklon and Tidal Wave, an SBF spinner) and South Parade Pier (Happy Caterpillar, a Wacky Worm). This was a number of weeks ago now; I think you can see why I've barely bothered to mention it here.
But the Road to 300 continued yesterday, with something a bit more substantial...
Legoland Billund
I've been toying with a Denmark trip for ages (the first time was 2018), but this was my first time on Danish land. But this was not the mega Danish trip I had hoped for all those years ago...in fact, it was just a day trip. A mixture of time, wanting to keep costs low but also wanting a trip meant that a couple of weeks ago I had a "sod it" moment, and booked the flights.
The flights were from Stansted, flying out at 7.30 and landing at Billund airport at 9.50, with the return flight leaving at 22.50 and landing at 23.30. With Billund being a 10 minute bus journey to the park (according to the online timetables), and being open 10am-8pm (with rides closing at 6pm), I felt that was plenty of time to do the park, explore a tiny bit of Billund and have a reasonably relaxed day. These flights were also cheap enough; I got them for just under £30 return...not the cheapest Ryanair flight out there, but good enough.
I also lucked out quite a lot with the trip in terms of keeping costs low. I was able to secure a free ticket to the park (thanks to a friend who works at Merlin) and a friend offered to drive me to Stansted from Surrey, and pick me up, meaning I didn't have to pay for parking. So the cost of travel for this trip was the flight, and petrol costs (plus a bit extra to the kind friend who did driving at unfriendly hours!), plus whatever the bus would end up being...
Flying to Billund was stress-free and simple. First time at Stansted since pre-pandemic, but nothing has really changed. Billund is quite a small airport, so the security queue was swamped as 3 flights seemed to land quite close to each other. But still, 25 minutes later, I was through and into Billund. This is where I hit a little snag: the next bus from the airport to the park was in 20 minutes time. Given the 10 minute journey and the cost, I ultimately decided to do the half hour walk from the airport to the park instead. It's dead easy. I also fully appreciated the 15 degree weather in Billund, given the ridiculously hot temperatures the UK is having right now.
![1658072269162.png 1658072269162.png](https://coasterforce.com/forums/data/attachments/18/18822-70b61e25a0af6e1ed321abc5b53577e4.jpg?hash=cLYeJaCvbh)
A little before 11am, I had arrived!
As I mentioned, rides closed at 6pm, with the park (namely Miniland and some food places and shops) open till 8pm. So that left me 7 hours to pick up 4 creds, get whatever else I fancied, then an extra bit of time to explore Miniland if I didn't get the chance to otherwise.
Looking at the app, the queue times weren't awful (nothing above 30mins), but the pathways around the entrance were HEAVING. This is where a lot of the young kids rides are too, so I expected a lot of young families to be the theme of the day as a result. In a strange move for me, I didn't head to a cred first, and instead went to Viking River Splash, the park's rapids. Why you ask? Well, they caught my attention because of the huge drop you see...
![1658072861216.png 1658072861216.png](https://coasterforce.com/forums/data/attachments/18/18823-76857f96e2b7972dcfe60071803e4476.jpg?hash=doV_luK3ly)
(of which I've had to steal a photo of because my photos of it are too large apparently)
It had a short queue (advertised 10 minutes), so thought why not. And it was a decent little circuit. Sparse on theming, but a decent set of rapids all things considered. The drop looked very much for show (I didn't see anyone coming off particularly wet), but that obviously lulled me into a false sense of security, as I got soaked. Damn.
Now it was time for creds. First up was X-treme Racers, the Mack Wild Mouse-esque ride. Advertised a 15 minute queue, and it was bang on 15 minutes. It's a fun ride, but does die away towards the end...
![1658073032535.png 1658073032535.png](https://coasterforce.com/forums/data/attachments/18/18824-1a725fcf9a58d89a51e540e000e396ec.jpg?hash=GnJfz5pY2J)
I kept moving this way around the park to what was my most anticipated ride at the park, Polar X-plorer (side note: this park loves to be edgey with its "X-"s, doesn't it?). I knew what it was, so no surprises there. Again, the advertised queue time of 20 minutes was surprisingly accurate, and I managed to luck out with a front row ride. And I have to say, I was impressed. I didn't expect anything much from the coaster section, but it was really cool, whippy and just all round good fun. The indoor section is fun and neat (could be a bit darker in there, but maybe they don't want it too dark at risk of intimidating younger kids?), but that is basically the end of the ride, and the return to the station is a bit awkward and slow, especially in comparison to the rest of the ride. Going past the penguins is fun though.
![1658073356832.png 1658073356832.png](https://coasterforce.com/forums/data/attachments/18/18825-3d71f192fc54f3738d51db7ace0fba6c.jpg?hash=PXHxkvxU83)
I wanted to carry on the cred theme, but Dragen was closed, and Flying Eagle was posting a 40 minute queue. So it was time to tick of some dark rides, and I went for what I guess was my second-most anticipated ride on park, Ghost: The Haunted House. I'd heard some neat things about this, and the exterior looked really cool. I sucked up the 30 minute queue time, and was in quick enough. The experience starts off with exploring (or should I write x-ploring?) the spooky house, including some interactive bits and a very long, and well done, mirror maze. It cumulates in a drop tower like experience, which can only really be described as a giant frog hopper. Honestly, the ride experience is a bit underwhelming; they certainly could have had a bit more of an exciting drop / shot n drop tower, especially given the theme and set up. And it was a bit frustrating to see it was only running one of the two towers. But all in, it's a really cool overall experience, just let down by the actual ride.
![1658073631761.png 1658073631761.png](https://coasterforce.com/forums/data/attachments/18/18826-a7580e36a3dd9c20d06d8ceb9c548bf8.jpg?hash=p1gONqPdnC)
![1658073657911.png 1658073657911.png](https://coasterforce.com/forums/data/attachments/18/18827-f0ab78589730d4a41bccad44270d30f3.jpg?hash=8Kt4WJcw1K)
One thing which irrationally annoyed me was the English voice of the ghost just before you board the ride. It was just...very annoying.
At this point I was ready for lunch. But the park had other ideas. Though the queues were long for the rides, that was nothing compared to how heaving the pathways were. And the queues for the food stalls were huge as well. I mean, I guess it was peak lunchtime hour at this point, so I shouldn't have been surprised. But they were just VERY long. I decided to push lunch back till later and brave the queue for Flying Eagle. It was still advertised at 40 minutes, so I didn't see it dropping, but at least from experience I knew the park's advertised queue times were accurate.
Indeed, 40 minutes later I was on. And for a little Zierer, this is alright. It's well presented, has some nice audio effects subtly going off in the background. And the ride has a couple of nice moments, especially a nice twisty bit just before the waterfall turnaround. Nothing more than a nice +1, but still, it's good when these things are nice.
![1658073932809.png 1658073932809.png](https://coasterforce.com/forums/data/attachments/18/18828-f69acbb0e3d7c7bf797c64860642c8cd.jpg?hash=9prLsOPXx7)
![1658073954775.png 1658073954775.png](https://coasterforce.com/forums/data/attachments/18/18829-3fcc2894e69e29fdd8952bea0837fbda.jpg?hash=P8wolOaeKf)
The queues for food were still very long, so I delayed lunch back even further for the now-open Dragen. It had a 45 minute queue, but oh well, needs must and all that; let's tick off all the creds now. I didn't actually realise this was a powered coaster (I should probably do a bit more research before going on trips...), but no matter. The indoor section is cool, the outdoor section is meh. It was only running one train (rcdb says it can run two, don't know if it actually does? Today would have been a day where it was welcomed). No photos of Dragen; it's very well hidden behind the castle, and the castle itself doesn't have quite the same grandeur as the Windsor equivalent.
My stomach got the better of me and made me seek out lunch (it was gone 2pm at this point, I'd had breakfast at like 4am...think that was fair). I waited about 15-20 minutes at the Fish and Chip place for a nice meal. It was here that made me remember Denmark is price (circa £13 for a meal which would probably be around £9-10 at Windsor), and kinda made me wish I packed a lunch. But I guess I should spend some money at this park...
It was time to tick off a few of the 'calmer' rides now. I did Ninjago The Ride, which seems to be exactly the same as Windsor's, yet feels shorter. I was surprised it was entirely in English, when all the other rides are largely Danish / dual-language (or even trio-language with German), but heyho. The Ninjago area is much more spacious and pleasant than Windsor's:
![1658074517792.png 1658074517792.png](https://coasterforce.com/forums/data/attachments/18/18830-66e158b7cb12a6df1d2b7924a8f91c45.jpg?hash=ZuFYt8sSpt)
I had planned to do the Atlantis by Sealife experience, but it seemed to have a long wait, and was - according to signage - a 25 minute long experience? Nah, let's skip that. I wanted to do the log flume, but it was apparently a 60 minute wait. Nah, maybe not. Instead, I wandered to the other side of the park and did Temple, the park's Egypt-themed shooter.
It's an omnimover, which is pretty cool, and means the ride doesn't seem to get a queue (never went above 5mins). The theming and effects are pretty cool on this tbf. But it is one of the most frustrating shooters I've done because the guns / shooting system are terrible. You shoot a target and hit it. It doesn't register. You do it again. Nothing. You seem to have to get it absolutely spot on, which is incredibly annoying. Really did not enjoy it as a result.
BUT, in saying that, this has a really cool on ride moment where you go through a tunnel of lights (which may or may not be targets, I don't know) whilst your little car spins. No one seems to speak about the spinning rave tunnel of Legoland Billund, but it needs to be spoken about. That was FUN.
![1658074859095.png 1658074859095.png](https://coasterforce.com/forums/data/attachments/18/18831-b7d1e9602e8622dff8c6af59b15b58c3.jpg?hash=t9HpYC6GIt)
Have a rubbish photo of a rubbish shooter
I then decided to do something a little bit...out of character. I opted to do a spin-n-spew like ride. Ice Pilots School is the park's set of 5 Kuka robo arms. You choose a setting, choose what you want the ride to do, et voila, you get a minute of your self-crafted demise. Watching this made me feel nervous, but I am a sucker for doing something new and different. When it came to choosing the setting, you get a choice of 5 levels: 1 being the tamest, 5 being the most extreme. I was going to go for 2, but again had a "ah sod it" moment and braved a 3. I immediately regretted it looking at my options: all of the potential "moves" it could do looked horrific. I chose SIX at random, and shortly after I was off. And...it wasn't horrible. I did quite like; that whole sense of satisfaction of doing something you don't like type deal. At the same time, it's not something I'm in a hurry to do again, and I don't want to know what levels 4 and 5 are like.
![1658075507803.png 1658075507803.png](https://coasterforce.com/forums/data/attachments/18/18832-4b299d4227fb5a6cf7c511081f9b88cc.jpg?hash=SymdQif7Wm)
I was a big fan of presentation of it too. It looks bland, but the minimalist approach, coupled with the lighting and subtle audio makes it feel slightly intimidating - in a good way - and pretty sleek.
The day was winding to a close, many long queues meant it was gone 4.30pm now. I still wanted to try out the park's flying theatre before doing re-rides, so I headed to Emmet's Flying Adventure, which was another long 40 minute wait. I liked the set up to this, and the humour of the pre show. In general, I think I prefer this section of the experience over Windsor's Flight of the Sky Lion. However, the actual film itself was a bit less interesting and - more crucially - less enjoyable. I have felt a bit of motion sickness on Sky Lion before (which, for reference, was my only other flying theatre), but this was much worse. I came off feeling pretty "bleurgh" and needing a bit of a sit down. So yeah, not a fan of this.
In general, I much prefer Windsor's Mythica World over Billund's Lego Movie World. Mythica feels much more polished in general, and Sky Lion is a better attraction on the whole over EMA. Side note: I look forward to seeing if/when Billund get a full on Mythica area, and what they do with it.
I had wanted to get a re-ride on Polar X-plorer, but it had a long queue (40 minutes, and it looked it) and the queasy feeling didn't make me feel mad keen on waiting. The log flume was still a long wait too. So after a quick break, I decided I'd head over to Miniland, but quickly detoured onto the queue-free Pirate Boats, a slow moving boat ride, which my stomach could handle. It was decent, and had a nice indoor section. Recommended.
I then had a mooch around Miniland. It feels smaller than Windsor's one (and probably is), but it does back a lot in. There's also quite a few interactive exhibits, which I liked. Maybe Windsor has loads of interactive bits too, but I'm just familiar with them. Had a good, but short, wander round, before checking out the Lego Shop, which was unsurprisingly rammed.
![1658076171552.png 1658076171552.png](https://coasterforce.com/forums/data/attachments/18/18833-e5e4ab23cd13fba700c95cf67aec001a.jpg?hash=5eSrI80T-6)
I had hoped to sneak a ride on Billund's newest cred, but it was broken down in this position. Gah, spite. Would hate to be evac-ed from there though...
So that ended my time at Legoland Billund. A couple of broader things I wanted to bring up:
-The park could definitely benefit from more audio. Many of the queues have nothing, and it does come through and feel a bit flat. Polar X-plorer was the main one which comes to mind. I wonder if it's a decision made in mind of the target audience, and trying to not over-stimulate children? Or if it's a Danish thing? Whatever it is, it was a shame.
-The staff. All of the staff were FANTASTIC. Everyone is so friendly and helpful, and seems to really enjoy working there. I had plenty of staff interact with me, but not being overly pushy / trying to force it. There was just a fantastic vibe about the whole park as a result, and it's something really refreshing to see. Whatever they're doing, they're doing it right.
With plenty of time before my flight, and the weather being pleasant, I had a wander round Billund. It's a quaint but ultimately boring little place, but I managed to find a cheap-ish supermarket to grab some snacks for the flight. I'd hoped to find something for dinner, but nothing jumped out at me, so airport restaurant it was. A chilled out walk back to airport, going through one of the most pleasant security processes I've ever had and I ended up at Sunset Boulevard, which is apparently a chain of restaurants in Denmark, for an okay-priced dinner before my flight. The flight back was pleasant enough, and going through Stansted was equally smooth - what a day!
So yes, Legoland Billund is a lovely little park. It's a nice +4 with a good collection of other rides. It definitely feels like it has a broader target market over Windsor too, which is cool. The staff are lovely too (as, tbf, are all Danish people it seems). Billund as an area is pretty cool too.
Whilst I'm sure it make more sense to try and turn this trip into a larger trip doing the "Western side" of Denmark, if you ever are after a day trip abroad cred run, Legoland Billund isn't a bad shout!
And as for the Road to 300? I'm now on 289...hopefully my next trip abroad in the next couple of months will tipple me over the line, so watch this space...
Fortunately, I have enough other trips planned / in the works that I should still hit the next hundred milestone this year. These trips are scattered and not particularly big, so I figured I may as well create a thread to house my trip reports for the rest of the year.
The post-America Road to 300 started 4 days after I had landed back. I had just moved to Portsmouth, and there were a couple of little piers with creds within a (long, but scenic) walk. So I mopped up the creds at Clarence Pier (Mad Mouse, an SBF Zyklon and Tidal Wave, an SBF spinner) and South Parade Pier (Happy Caterpillar, a Wacky Worm). This was a number of weeks ago now; I think you can see why I've barely bothered to mention it here.
But the Road to 300 continued yesterday, with something a bit more substantial...
Legoland Billund
I've been toying with a Denmark trip for ages (the first time was 2018), but this was my first time on Danish land. But this was not the mega Danish trip I had hoped for all those years ago...in fact, it was just a day trip. A mixture of time, wanting to keep costs low but also wanting a trip meant that a couple of weeks ago I had a "sod it" moment, and booked the flights.
The flights were from Stansted, flying out at 7.30 and landing at Billund airport at 9.50, with the return flight leaving at 22.50 and landing at 23.30. With Billund being a 10 minute bus journey to the park (according to the online timetables), and being open 10am-8pm (with rides closing at 6pm), I felt that was plenty of time to do the park, explore a tiny bit of Billund and have a reasonably relaxed day. These flights were also cheap enough; I got them for just under £30 return...not the cheapest Ryanair flight out there, but good enough.
I also lucked out quite a lot with the trip in terms of keeping costs low. I was able to secure a free ticket to the park (thanks to a friend who works at Merlin) and a friend offered to drive me to Stansted from Surrey, and pick me up, meaning I didn't have to pay for parking. So the cost of travel for this trip was the flight, and petrol costs (plus a bit extra to the kind friend who did driving at unfriendly hours!), plus whatever the bus would end up being...
Flying to Billund was stress-free and simple. First time at Stansted since pre-pandemic, but nothing has really changed. Billund is quite a small airport, so the security queue was swamped as 3 flights seemed to land quite close to each other. But still, 25 minutes later, I was through and into Billund. This is where I hit a little snag: the next bus from the airport to the park was in 20 minutes time. Given the 10 minute journey and the cost, I ultimately decided to do the half hour walk from the airport to the park instead. It's dead easy. I also fully appreciated the 15 degree weather in Billund, given the ridiculously hot temperatures the UK is having right now.
![1658072269162.png 1658072269162.png](https://coasterforce.com/forums/data/attachments/18/18822-70b61e25a0af6e1ed321abc5b53577e4.jpg?hash=cLYeJaCvbh)
A little before 11am, I had arrived!
As I mentioned, rides closed at 6pm, with the park (namely Miniland and some food places and shops) open till 8pm. So that left me 7 hours to pick up 4 creds, get whatever else I fancied, then an extra bit of time to explore Miniland if I didn't get the chance to otherwise.
Looking at the app, the queue times weren't awful (nothing above 30mins), but the pathways around the entrance were HEAVING. This is where a lot of the young kids rides are too, so I expected a lot of young families to be the theme of the day as a result. In a strange move for me, I didn't head to a cred first, and instead went to Viking River Splash, the park's rapids. Why you ask? Well, they caught my attention because of the huge drop you see...
![1658072861216.png 1658072861216.png](https://coasterforce.com/forums/data/attachments/18/18823-76857f96e2b7972dcfe60071803e4476.jpg?hash=doV_luK3ly)
(of which I've had to steal a photo of because my photos of it are too large apparently)
It had a short queue (advertised 10 minutes), so thought why not. And it was a decent little circuit. Sparse on theming, but a decent set of rapids all things considered. The drop looked very much for show (I didn't see anyone coming off particularly wet), but that obviously lulled me into a false sense of security, as I got soaked. Damn.
Now it was time for creds. First up was X-treme Racers, the Mack Wild Mouse-esque ride. Advertised a 15 minute queue, and it was bang on 15 minutes. It's a fun ride, but does die away towards the end...
![1658073032535.png 1658073032535.png](https://coasterforce.com/forums/data/attachments/18/18824-1a725fcf9a58d89a51e540e000e396ec.jpg?hash=GnJfz5pY2J)
I kept moving this way around the park to what was my most anticipated ride at the park, Polar X-plorer (side note: this park loves to be edgey with its "X-"s, doesn't it?). I knew what it was, so no surprises there. Again, the advertised queue time of 20 minutes was surprisingly accurate, and I managed to luck out with a front row ride. And I have to say, I was impressed. I didn't expect anything much from the coaster section, but it was really cool, whippy and just all round good fun. The indoor section is fun and neat (could be a bit darker in there, but maybe they don't want it too dark at risk of intimidating younger kids?), but that is basically the end of the ride, and the return to the station is a bit awkward and slow, especially in comparison to the rest of the ride. Going past the penguins is fun though.
![1658073356832.png 1658073356832.png](https://coasterforce.com/forums/data/attachments/18/18825-3d71f192fc54f3738d51db7ace0fba6c.jpg?hash=PXHxkvxU83)
I wanted to carry on the cred theme, but Dragen was closed, and Flying Eagle was posting a 40 minute queue. So it was time to tick of some dark rides, and I went for what I guess was my second-most anticipated ride on park, Ghost: The Haunted House. I'd heard some neat things about this, and the exterior looked really cool. I sucked up the 30 minute queue time, and was in quick enough. The experience starts off with exploring (or should I write x-ploring?) the spooky house, including some interactive bits and a very long, and well done, mirror maze. It cumulates in a drop tower like experience, which can only really be described as a giant frog hopper. Honestly, the ride experience is a bit underwhelming; they certainly could have had a bit more of an exciting drop / shot n drop tower, especially given the theme and set up. And it was a bit frustrating to see it was only running one of the two towers. But all in, it's a really cool overall experience, just let down by the actual ride.
![1658073631761.png 1658073631761.png](https://coasterforce.com/forums/data/attachments/18/18826-a7580e36a3dd9c20d06d8ceb9c548bf8.jpg?hash=p1gONqPdnC)
![1658073657911.png 1658073657911.png](https://coasterforce.com/forums/data/attachments/18/18827-f0ab78589730d4a41bccad44270d30f3.jpg?hash=8Kt4WJcw1K)
One thing which irrationally annoyed me was the English voice of the ghost just before you board the ride. It was just...very annoying.
At this point I was ready for lunch. But the park had other ideas. Though the queues were long for the rides, that was nothing compared to how heaving the pathways were. And the queues for the food stalls were huge as well. I mean, I guess it was peak lunchtime hour at this point, so I shouldn't have been surprised. But they were just VERY long. I decided to push lunch back till later and brave the queue for Flying Eagle. It was still advertised at 40 minutes, so I didn't see it dropping, but at least from experience I knew the park's advertised queue times were accurate.
Indeed, 40 minutes later I was on. And for a little Zierer, this is alright. It's well presented, has some nice audio effects subtly going off in the background. And the ride has a couple of nice moments, especially a nice twisty bit just before the waterfall turnaround. Nothing more than a nice +1, but still, it's good when these things are nice.
![1658073932809.png 1658073932809.png](https://coasterforce.com/forums/data/attachments/18/18828-f69acbb0e3d7c7bf797c64860642c8cd.jpg?hash=9prLsOPXx7)
![1658073954775.png 1658073954775.png](https://coasterforce.com/forums/data/attachments/18/18829-3fcc2894e69e29fdd8952bea0837fbda.jpg?hash=P8wolOaeKf)
The queues for food were still very long, so I delayed lunch back even further for the now-open Dragen. It had a 45 minute queue, but oh well, needs must and all that; let's tick off all the creds now. I didn't actually realise this was a powered coaster (I should probably do a bit more research before going on trips...), but no matter. The indoor section is cool, the outdoor section is meh. It was only running one train (rcdb says it can run two, don't know if it actually does? Today would have been a day where it was welcomed). No photos of Dragen; it's very well hidden behind the castle, and the castle itself doesn't have quite the same grandeur as the Windsor equivalent.
My stomach got the better of me and made me seek out lunch (it was gone 2pm at this point, I'd had breakfast at like 4am...think that was fair). I waited about 15-20 minutes at the Fish and Chip place for a nice meal. It was here that made me remember Denmark is price (circa £13 for a meal which would probably be around £9-10 at Windsor), and kinda made me wish I packed a lunch. But I guess I should spend some money at this park...
It was time to tick off a few of the 'calmer' rides now. I did Ninjago The Ride, which seems to be exactly the same as Windsor's, yet feels shorter. I was surprised it was entirely in English, when all the other rides are largely Danish / dual-language (or even trio-language with German), but heyho. The Ninjago area is much more spacious and pleasant than Windsor's:
![1658074517792.png 1658074517792.png](https://coasterforce.com/forums/data/attachments/18/18830-66e158b7cb12a6df1d2b7924a8f91c45.jpg?hash=ZuFYt8sSpt)
I had planned to do the Atlantis by Sealife experience, but it seemed to have a long wait, and was - according to signage - a 25 minute long experience? Nah, let's skip that. I wanted to do the log flume, but it was apparently a 60 minute wait. Nah, maybe not. Instead, I wandered to the other side of the park and did Temple, the park's Egypt-themed shooter.
It's an omnimover, which is pretty cool, and means the ride doesn't seem to get a queue (never went above 5mins). The theming and effects are pretty cool on this tbf. But it is one of the most frustrating shooters I've done because the guns / shooting system are terrible. You shoot a target and hit it. It doesn't register. You do it again. Nothing. You seem to have to get it absolutely spot on, which is incredibly annoying. Really did not enjoy it as a result.
BUT, in saying that, this has a really cool on ride moment where you go through a tunnel of lights (which may or may not be targets, I don't know) whilst your little car spins. No one seems to speak about the spinning rave tunnel of Legoland Billund, but it needs to be spoken about. That was FUN.
![1658074859095.png 1658074859095.png](https://coasterforce.com/forums/data/attachments/18/18831-b7d1e9602e8622dff8c6af59b15b58c3.jpg?hash=t9HpYC6GIt)
Have a rubbish photo of a rubbish shooter
I then decided to do something a little bit...out of character. I opted to do a spin-n-spew like ride. Ice Pilots School is the park's set of 5 Kuka robo arms. You choose a setting, choose what you want the ride to do, et voila, you get a minute of your self-crafted demise. Watching this made me feel nervous, but I am a sucker for doing something new and different. When it came to choosing the setting, you get a choice of 5 levels: 1 being the tamest, 5 being the most extreme. I was going to go for 2, but again had a "ah sod it" moment and braved a 3. I immediately regretted it looking at my options: all of the potential "moves" it could do looked horrific. I chose SIX at random, and shortly after I was off. And...it wasn't horrible. I did quite like; that whole sense of satisfaction of doing something you don't like type deal. At the same time, it's not something I'm in a hurry to do again, and I don't want to know what levels 4 and 5 are like.
![1658075507803.png 1658075507803.png](https://coasterforce.com/forums/data/attachments/18/18832-4b299d4227fb5a6cf7c511081f9b88cc.jpg?hash=SymdQif7Wm)
I was a big fan of presentation of it too. It looks bland, but the minimalist approach, coupled with the lighting and subtle audio makes it feel slightly intimidating - in a good way - and pretty sleek.
The day was winding to a close, many long queues meant it was gone 4.30pm now. I still wanted to try out the park's flying theatre before doing re-rides, so I headed to Emmet's Flying Adventure, which was another long 40 minute wait. I liked the set up to this, and the humour of the pre show. In general, I think I prefer this section of the experience over Windsor's Flight of the Sky Lion. However, the actual film itself was a bit less interesting and - more crucially - less enjoyable. I have felt a bit of motion sickness on Sky Lion before (which, for reference, was my only other flying theatre), but this was much worse. I came off feeling pretty "bleurgh" and needing a bit of a sit down. So yeah, not a fan of this.
In general, I much prefer Windsor's Mythica World over Billund's Lego Movie World. Mythica feels much more polished in general, and Sky Lion is a better attraction on the whole over EMA. Side note: I look forward to seeing if/when Billund get a full on Mythica area, and what they do with it.
I had wanted to get a re-ride on Polar X-plorer, but it had a long queue (40 minutes, and it looked it) and the queasy feeling didn't make me feel mad keen on waiting. The log flume was still a long wait too. So after a quick break, I decided I'd head over to Miniland, but quickly detoured onto the queue-free Pirate Boats, a slow moving boat ride, which my stomach could handle. It was decent, and had a nice indoor section. Recommended.
I then had a mooch around Miniland. It feels smaller than Windsor's one (and probably is), but it does back a lot in. There's also quite a few interactive exhibits, which I liked. Maybe Windsor has loads of interactive bits too, but I'm just familiar with them. Had a good, but short, wander round, before checking out the Lego Shop, which was unsurprisingly rammed.
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I had hoped to sneak a ride on Billund's newest cred, but it was broken down in this position. Gah, spite. Would hate to be evac-ed from there though...
So that ended my time at Legoland Billund. A couple of broader things I wanted to bring up:
-The park could definitely benefit from more audio. Many of the queues have nothing, and it does come through and feel a bit flat. Polar X-plorer was the main one which comes to mind. I wonder if it's a decision made in mind of the target audience, and trying to not over-stimulate children? Or if it's a Danish thing? Whatever it is, it was a shame.
-The staff. All of the staff were FANTASTIC. Everyone is so friendly and helpful, and seems to really enjoy working there. I had plenty of staff interact with me, but not being overly pushy / trying to force it. There was just a fantastic vibe about the whole park as a result, and it's something really refreshing to see. Whatever they're doing, they're doing it right.
With plenty of time before my flight, and the weather being pleasant, I had a wander round Billund. It's a quaint but ultimately boring little place, but I managed to find a cheap-ish supermarket to grab some snacks for the flight. I'd hoped to find something for dinner, but nothing jumped out at me, so airport restaurant it was. A chilled out walk back to airport, going through one of the most pleasant security processes I've ever had and I ended up at Sunset Boulevard, which is apparently a chain of restaurants in Denmark, for an okay-priced dinner before my flight. The flight back was pleasant enough, and going through Stansted was equally smooth - what a day!
So yes, Legoland Billund is a lovely little park. It's a nice +4 with a good collection of other rides. It definitely feels like it has a broader target market over Windsor too, which is cool. The staff are lovely too (as, tbf, are all Danish people it seems). Billund as an area is pretty cool too.
Whilst I'm sure it make more sense to try and turn this trip into a larger trip doing the "Western side" of Denmark, if you ever are after a day trip abroad cred run, Legoland Billund isn't a bad shout!
And as for the Road to 300? I'm now on 289...hopefully my next trip abroad in the next couple of months will tipple me over the line, so watch this space...
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